Thanks for those links! I have a load of free time on my hands at work, reading all about mlm made my stomach lurch! It makes me mad how people can be so heartless and want to trick others into something they know is bad!

It is mainly a site exposing a certain organization of pink-cadillac-driving-nutjobs, but it can be a real eye-opener about a company that most people think of as "fairly annoying, but overall harmless"

The updates to the website are not good for my Lenten goals. I have already yielded to temptation to read a few of them. This one was about the first, and HOLY COW! What a way to begin!

Never got suckered into Amway, but I'm still a little miffed at my friend Carolyn for giving out my name and number to a salesperson. The girl called and said that Carolyn had viewed a presentation she had done and that Carolyn had suggested that I should look over it as well. Since Carolyn and I had both been in advertising and newspaper, I thought the girl had done some sort of PowerPoint, and I set up a table with a line to a surge protector so she could hook up her computer.

Nope. She was selling extremely overpriced knives. I ended up buying a pair of shears because I did need some new ones and it was about the cheapest item on her list. (No, I was not going to buy an entire set of knives.) And boy, did she get furious when I refused to give her any names and addresses of people for her to contact. I kept telling her "no," and finally she whined, "But if I don't get any names from you, I won't get credit for this sale!"

Sorry, babe, them's the breaks. Next time be honest and upfront and you won't be presenting to someone who fantasizes about chasing you off the property with one of your knives.

(And as for the shears — they aren't any better than the Fiskars I can get for about a quarter of the price. )

The updates to the website are not good for my Lenten goals. I have already yielded to temptation to read a few of them. This one was about the first, and HOLY COW! What a way to begin!

Never got suckered into Amway, but I'm still a little miffed at my friend Carolyn for giving out my name and number to a salesperson. The girl called and said that Carolyn had viewed a presentation she had done and that Carolyn had suggested that I should look over it as well. Since Carolyn and I had both been in advertising and newspaper, I thought the girl had done some sort of PowerPoint, and I set up a table with a line to a surge protector so she could hook up her computer.

Nope. She was selling extremely overpriced knives. I ended up buying a pair of shears because I did need some new ones and it was about the cheapest item on her list. (No, I was not going to buy an entire set of knives.) And boy, did she get furious when I refused to give her any names and addresses of people for her to contact. I kept telling her "no," and finally she whined, "But if I don't get any names from you, I won't get credit for this sale!"

Sorry, babe, them's the breaks. Next time be honest and upfront and you won't be presenting to someone who fantasizes about chasing you off the property with one of your knives.

(And as for the shears — they aren't any better than the Fiskars I can get for about a quarter of the price. )

You must be talking about Cutco. And how do I know? My daughter's friend was selling it last summer and wanted to "practice" her presentation on me. She also tried to get names and numbers from me, and I said I absolutely would not give out names and numbers without the prior approval of the people they belonged to.

I did buy the knives because I needed new ones, and I thought I'd give the kid a break (she was working her way through college). Never again.

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bhmcintosh

My father spent THIRTY YEARS in what I teeth-grittingly refer to as "the silly little soap business." He spent a fortune in books, tapes, retreats, conferences, seminars, products, sucking up to the likes of Bob Zender, Bill Britt, etc. To this day I see red every time I hear "Amway", "DeVos", or any other reference thereunto. The crown jewel was when my father blew off my birthday dinner (wife, kids and I drove from FL to MD to spend my birthday and Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad) to go to a weekly "pitch the business" confab.

When I was in college back in the early 80s, there were several cult or cult-like groups on campus, and our church and local campus ministries did classes on various characteristics of such organizations (big glaring ones were twisting of language into an "in" jargon, strong focus on the personalities of the leadership, isolation from friends and family, fostering of an almost militant "us v. them" mentality, and oftentimes in the more overtly "church-like" groups some really pretzel-factory twisting of Biblical texts to make the group seem ok and everyone else seem the damned and benighted), many of which I had observed in the Amway organization Dad was associated with. It was probably the single biggest bone of contention between Mom and Dad, and between Dad and I, and I'll always regard the silly little soap business as having stolen a healthy chunk of my father's life out from under him.

In retrospect, one of the most emotionally catharthic things was, after Dad passed away from leukemia about 5 years ago, was helping Mom go through all of Dad's effects. I told her in no uncertain terms, and she and my brother were only too happy to acquiesce, that anything even remotely associated with Amway (except maybe their disinfectant cleaner - that was pretty good stuff actually) could be discarded with extreme prejudice. Hearing those bundles of cassette tapes bottoming out in the trash can... such a lovely sound it was!

« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 01:04:21 PM by bhmcintosh »

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Edallia

Luckily for me, I've never been approached in this fashion. The only people I knew who were into Quixtar (which is pretty much Amway, I believe) were very much "I'll tell you about it, but only if you express an interest, and in the meantime, you can buy these things from me, but only if you really want them." And I got some makeup I really liked that way. But having read through this thread, I can see that I was fortunate there.

I did ask them about the tales of people losing gobs of money through Amway, and they said they didn't see how that could happen unless the person bought a boatload of books and videos and spent money travelling to seminars and buying tickets to "Amway! The Musical!" or whatnot. I'm not sure how indelibly true that is, but I got it from the source, for what it's worth.

Unfortunately, I'm sure there are plenty of people who get caught up in frenzy of What A Good Idea This Is and spend too much money trying to figure out how to *make* money.

My parents got involved in Amway (or INA, as it's often called now) when I was 13. Dad believed in it with all his heart; Mom did not. It caused increased tension over the years, and I am certain it played a part in their eventual divorce. Dad's still in it a little bit, although not as active as he used to be. It never did make him the wealth he saw others achieve.

Aside: my dad once won ten tickets to a comedy club, and told me to invite some of my friends along. Two of his friends from INA were there, and they tried signing two of my friends up for the business! My friends were NOT happy, and I was embarrassed.

When I was in junior college, another student talked me into going to a Lifesprings seminar with her. Fortunately I had my head screwed on straight & was able to resist the cult recruitment. I remember them saying my future was worth $1,000 (I don't remember the exact amount) and four weekends. I said I had worked very hard to position myself financially so I could pursue my dream of getting an engineering degree & was doing it right now. I wasn't going to turn from my chosen path to pursue their dreams of getting my $1,000. I was escorted out of the meeting shortly after lunch & asked to leave. I guess they didn't want anyone else hearing my confident assertions.

When I got home, one of my roommates told me that Lifesprings is a cult that brainwashes students & I was lucky to get out. Amazingly enough, I contacted him several years later & found out he joined Lifesprings and became a true believer.

The truth is stranger than fiction

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"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

these programs cater to people who have authoritarian personalities and who desperately want to be 'big shots' -- they lap up the special jargon 'I'm his 'upline'' and sprinkle their conversations with words they think high powered movers and shakers use. it is a desperate cry for self importance. and any question or criticism then becomes a personal assault from their perspective.

That line jumped out at me as it perfectly describes the husband of a friend of mine. They joined an Amway offshoot called Omega Trend (I don't know if this exists outside of Australia), or "The Business" as they both started calling it. Somehow "The Business" managed to be dropped into almost every conversation and they seemed to have the attitude that if you weren't interested in joining up you were crazy and not really worth being friends with anymore.

That was about 5 years ago and sadly my friend and I have gone from speaking daily for the 5 years prior to them joining, to only speaking about once a year now if we run into each other at the shops. The husband was definitely the one behind joining up. They had a plan in place that by the first anniversary of joining he could quit (yet another) job/go on extended holidays/upgrade the car and house etc. Last I heard he's still working and now she has a full time job too.

I've clicked on the links some people have highlighted throughout the thread (to read later) and am regarding them with trepidation from the comments those who have already read them have posted.

Has anyone ever seen the movie "Go" when the cop serving as a consultant on a crime show takes two actors home for dinner with his wife. They make increasingly bizarre statements, including the husband asking one actor to sit on his bed, "Isn't this the softest comforter you've ever felt?" The actors are terrified that the cop is about either to proposition them or kill them, and it turns out the whole thing was a pitch for a direct sales company. Almost everything in the house, from the comforter to the food, to the furniture is from the company and the cop sells it, too! The cop wants to use the actors' Hollywood connections to ramp up his own operation. It's very creepy, but hilarious at the same time.

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Icing is the greatest invention known to man. It's edible glue. How awesome is that?- Ralphie May

When I was first out of college, I was hunting for jobs, and also doing some part time work on the side until I could find something full time. A friend said that he was starting an online business with a few acquaintances and that they needed somebody to help with answering emails, typing etc. He told me they were having a meeting with their main financer, and that I should come to it, make sure to wear a suit, and then meet the rest of the team. Yay! Parttime work.

I trotted myself out in my suit & heels to find that the meeting was in a B&N with no seating, and it was just a pyramid scheme. I walked out once I got over the shock. My friend tried to stop me & when I said I didn't like being deceived, he told me I was too base to understand the need for wealth & he couldn't be friends with somebody like that.